Self-winding electric clock



Feb. 10, 1925. 1,525,83 u. L. SUNDBLAD v SELF WINDING ELECTRIC CLOCK,

Filed Aug 11, 15324 a "I if, I ",1 v

Patented Feb. 10, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

UNO L. SUNDBLAD, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF '10 CHARLES W. WELLS, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTECUT.

SELF-WINDING ELECTRIC CLOCK.

Application filed August 11, 1924. Serial No. 731,315.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, UNo L. SUNDBLAD, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Self-VVinding Electric Clocks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent,

Fig. 1 a face view of a self-winding electric clock constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 a side view of the same.

Fig. 3 a detached, plan view, on an enlarged scale, of the spring-barrel, with its slide and dog in their positions when the spring is wound.

Fig. 1 a similar view, showing the position of parts when the spring is unwound and ready for rewinding.

Fig. 5 a broken, sectional view of the spring-barrel and adjacent parts.

This invention relates to improvement in self-winding electric clocks, and is an improvement on the device shown and described in Patent No. 1,143,66, granted to me June 22, 1915. The object of the invention is to simplify the electric contacts, whereby they are more direct, and, therefore, more positive in action, and the invention consists in the construct-ion as hereinafter described and particularly recited in the claims.

In carrying out my invention, I employ the usual clock-mechanism which need not be described other than to refer to the usual spring-barrel 10, which contains a spring 11, one end of which is fixed to the barrel 10 and the other to the main-spring arbor 12' This spring-barrel is formed with an annular gear 13, meshing with a pinion 14: on a winding shaft 15 driven by an electric motor which will not be described other than to say that one side is connected with a binding-post 16, with which one wire from a battery, not shown, is attached. The other side of the motor is connected by a wire 17 with a contactdisk or ring 18 mounted on a bridge 19 and insulated therefrom. A binding-post 20 for the second wire of the battery is connected with case 21 and through the case is grounded with the clock-movement. Mounted on the rear face of the springbarrel is a slide 22 guided for movement by a screw 23 passing through a clearance slot 24. This slide carries an inwardly-projecting pin 25, which I will hereinafter refer to as the spring-pin, the pin extending through a clearance slot 26 in the barrel and entering between the outer convolutions of the spring 11.- Pivotally mounted on the face of the slide is a dog 27 carrying a, contact-pin 23 which extends into the plane of the disk 18. This dog has a lockingnotch 29 in position to be engaged with the nose 30 of a spring-latch 31, and extending into the plane of the contact-pin 28 is a spring contact-arm 32 secured to the barrel, so as to have electrical contactthere- 75 with. Bearing upon one side of the barrel is a brush 33 carried by a bowed bar 31, the ends of which bear against case-pillars 35 and 36 and through them making electric connection with the case.

Assuming the clock is to be wound, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, the spring-pin 25 is drawn toward the center of the barrel by a contraction of the convolutions of the spring, and in this position, the dog 27 is engaged by the latch 31, so as to hold the post 28 out of engagement Withthe disk 18. As the spring unwinds, the spring-pin 25 moves toward the outer wall of the spring-barrel, and when the spring is unwound, or nearly soas shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the dog is turned out of engagement with the latch and swings so as to cause the contact-pin 28 to engage with the disk 18, and so close the circuit through the motor, starting that in motion and turning the shaft 15 and gear 1 1, and hence turning the spring-barrel so as to re-wind the spring. lVhen the contact-pin 28 engages with the disk 18, the circuit passes through the contact-arm 32, through the barrel 13, and through the brush 33 and bowed bar 31 to the case. When the spring is wound, the dog turnsi on the slide until it is caught by the spring 1 105 latch, which then comes into position tot: hold the dog and move the contact-pin ou of engagement with the disk 18.

It will thus be seen that the electric cirsuit is practically direct and does not pass 110 through the slide and other parts, as was necessary in my previous construction.

I claim:

1. In a self-winding electric clock, the combination with a clock-movement including a spring-barrel, of an electric motor, a contact-disk connected with one side of said motor, a slide mounted on said spring-bar rel and carrying a spring-pin extending into the convolutions of the spring, a dog mounted on said slide and carrying a contact-pin extending into the plane of the contact-disk, means for holding-said dog out of engagement with said disk, a contactarm in the path of the said contact-pin, said arm connected with the barrel, and a brush in contact with said barrel and with said case.

2. In a self-Winding electric clock, the combination with a clock-movement including a spring barrel, and spring, of an electrio motor, a disk insulated from the clockmovement and connected with one side of the motor, a slide mounted on said spring barrel and carrying aspring-pin extending into the convolutions of the spring, a dog pivotally connected with said slide and formed with a notch, a spring-latch adapted to engage with said notch, a contact-pin carried by i-il dog and extending into the plane of the said contact-disk, -a spring contact-arm mounted on the barrel and extending into the path of the contact-pin, and a bowed bar in electrical connection with the clockcase and bearing upon the spring-barrel.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two sub scribing witnesses.

UNO L. SUNDBLAD. lVit-nesses FREDLRIG C. EARL, MALCOLM P. NICHOLS. 

